Raury Premieres Timeless New “2020 Vision” Music Video

It’s easy to lose track of time in conversation with Raury, an artist from the fruitful music scene of Atlanta known to play free shows in the woods and float therapeutic prose over timeless beats. Noisey spoke with Raury about his upcoming album Strawberry Moon and “2020 Vision” music video premiering today.

“Music is medicine,” Raury says about the materialization of his new single, “‘2020 Vision’ is supposed to be the spell that snaps you out of sleeping on yourself. We all have an inner voice. We all have a higher self. We all have, to some level, psychic abilities. We just need to trust in that intuitive voice. I’m done doubting myself. I want everybody to be done doubting themselves.” 

The music video features San Diego-based skater Preshous Jordan, embodying the confidence of Raury’s lyrics: “If you’re not gon hop on shotgun, get your ass in the back.” Throughout his career, Raury has been vocal about the music industry’s impact on the mind of the artist, and how people can get lost. “You have to be confident in your vision and you have to have resolve behind it, because it will be challenged, it will be doubted, people will try to exploit it, and colonize it.”

“My goal, and why I’m making music, is to get people free,” he told Noisey. “There’s music for entertainment, and there’s music for education. Sometimes people just want to dance and enjoy themselves. That’s an essential part of music. But then there’s music that is straight truth and message. Great artists understand the balance sonically. It’s like soup on the stove, you can be burning that shit, or you can be not cooking it at all… you have to find that balance, where you can tell the truth, but also, give people the freedom, the escape.”

Raury’s next full-length album Strawberry Moon will be released this summer. The title is an invitation, he explained, “The ‘strawberry moon’ is the full moon in June, and it has particular properties about it. Not only is there the strawberry moon, but there’s the sturgeon moon, pink moon, cold moon, flower moon, they’re all particular. I like to leave breadcrumbs and doors unlocked for people to open if they want to, to encourage people to dive further into that knowledge.”

“When it comes to Strawberry Moon, I had a lot of fun making this album. This album is just meant for dope shit and having fun, but at the same time, it’s laced with the medicine, I really hope y’all enjoy it.”